Cameron Kelsall

1 week ago | parterre.com | Cameron Kelsall

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra launched an ambitious, multi-year survey of Verdi’s operas with a complete performance of Aïda, the final concert of their 2024-25 season. The presentation served as a balm to the Charm City, which has been largely starved for music drama since Baltimore Opera Company ceased operations in 2009.

1 week ago | broadstreetreview.com | Cameron Kelsall

In his home country of Norway, stagings of Fosse’s plays are second only to the nation’s most famous dramatist, Henrik Ibsen. They appear with far less frequency on this side of the Atlantic. I could only find one previous production of A Summer Day, by New York’s Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, in 2012. I hope the Wilma’s finely wrought endeavor will spark a stateside interest in Fosse’s exquisite miniatures.

2 weeks ago | broadstreetreview.com | Cameron Kelsall

Philadelphia Theatre Company celebrated its 50th anniversary with a gala performance of Small Ball, the new musical that closes the company’s golden season. Patrons nibbled on cupcakes piped with icing to look like miniature basketballs in the lobby of the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, and 6ABC’s Alicia Vitarelli—a self-professed “theater kid”—gave a rousing warm-up speech from the stage.

3 weeks ago | bachtrack.com | Cameron Kelsall

Every critic dreams of witnessing a “star-is-born” moment, discovering on a whim an artist bound for an extraordinary career. At the Metropolitan Opera, singers like Roberta Peters and Kiri Te Kanawa began their illustrious associations with unplanned debuts, instantly announcing their importance by weathering the most difficult of circumstances.

3 weeks ago | bachtrack.com | Cameron Kelsall

Before decamping for their customary residencies in Colorado and upstate New York, the Philadelphia Orchestra ushered in the warmer months with a complete concert staging of Tristan und Isolde – a choice that gave an entirely new definition to the concept of “summer loving”. In 1934, this ensemble offered the first uncut performances of the opera in the United States, but it had only been heard in excerpted form since then.